A young boy receives a mosquito net on April 28, 2020 in Benin during a distribution aiming at fighting malaria amid the pandemic of the novel coronavirus. Benin is trying to curb malaria by providing mosquito nets to vulnerable populations as the rainy season approaches. | Yanick Folly/AFP via Getty Images

Vaccinations and screenings for measles, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases are down in the pandemic.

In recent decades, the world has made dramatic progress in lowering the number of deaths from infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, HIV, malaria, and polio. But as campaigns are paused or cut back and as people miss routine care due to the coronavirus pandemic, these illnesses are getting a rare opportunity to come roaring back.

Tuberculosis deaths were down worldwide almost 50 percent over the past two decades (to 1.3 million a year). But the illness is likely